G’day!
It’s Wildcard month, which means we’re allowed to go a little… wild with our projects. And so, in the spirit of bringing my latest Imperial army to life, I thought I’d take the opportunity to paint one of my favourite pieces of terrain ever:
The crashed Aquila Lander from Battle for Macragge.
Despite my undying love for all things 80s/90s Games Workshop, my actual career in the hobby began shortly before this 4th edition starter set was released. I remember sharing the box with my little brother (now long-retired from the hobby in favour of skateboarding and making smart financial decisions). I took the Space Marine side and painted them up as Ultramarines (of course) while my brother took his inspiration from Alien to paint his ‘Nids mostly grey and green.
I don’t think either of us really took the rules all too seriously when we did get some poorly painted minis on the field. In fact, at some point, I think my Space Marines once ended up fighting an army of Dwarfs from The Battle for Skull Pass among the ruins of this crashed starfighter.
But it was never really about the game. It was about the vibe.
And boy was that vibe good. I don’t think we appreciated, at that moment, that “modern” 40k was pretty much at its aesthetic and mechanical peak. Naturally, it couldn’t match the vibe of Rogue Trader, or even Second if that’s more your vibe, but Battle for Macragge was really a high point in my view of what Warhammer could be.
This crashed Aquila Lander is a good physical representation of that nostalgic ideal. It’s not an L-shaped ruin. It wasn’t designed to give balanced cover to both sides of the table. No, it’s a piece of plastic that tells a story, of which us gamers play a big part.
I remember scenarios from the starter set booklet that involved your heroic Space Marines fighting through never-ending hordes to make off with the ship’s power supply, or defending the downed passenger with his container of scientific samples.
Ahh. Officially licensed narrative gaming. Bliss.
The ruins I now have in my collection came from a second-hand lot, made up of mostly Battle for Macragge bits in pretty rough condition. Though that meant a bit more work, it really told me that this was a collection that someone had loved, maybe in the same way I had. Or, at the very least, they’d given the hobby a red-hot go.
It worked out for me that they’d given it up at some point. I’m certainly not complaining that I get to relive those glory days.
Anyway, painting this set seemed daunting at first, but actually proved fairly simple. I hit the whole lot with a black spray then sprayed the edges of the crash site with red to better match my Grey Knight’s bases.
As you’ll see, I’ve ended up putting some flock down, and a few “alien plants” on the base. I want to keep most of my Oldhammer 40k stuff on red desert-adjacent bases, so adding some natural elements should help blend this terrain more easily into future boards and armies.
To paint the ship itself, I picked up an iconic, time-tested tool: the sponge.
Nicking a little yellow block from beneath our kitchen sink, I built up a few layers of successively brighter, desaturated blues (and whites on the wing tips). I really like using a sponge on a big piece of plastic, as not only does it neatly avoid recesses, you can really modulate the intensity of your colour in a similar way to drybrushing - or even airbrushing - without the faff. The trick is, like drybrushing, to build up more gradually, with lots of quick stabbing dabs rather than a thick “splodge”.
I finished off the ship with simple glossed black for the shattered windows and some cabling details. I really love painting hazard-striped cables, the quickest way to do so being basecoating them with Scale75 Sahara Yellow, laying down some neat(ish) black stripes, then painting a thin line of Tenere Yellow over the whole length with the edge of your brush.
I weathered the ship with sponges, again, using a really dark Blue Steel metallic to add chips and battle damage. Games Workshop rust effect was watered down and applied to recesses, before a dark red pigment powder was jammed in mostly where the ship parts meet the ground. This final step really brought the whole thing together, so I’ll definitely be repeating it across future models.
And so, that’s it! All the painting done for my 2026 OWAC challenge. It’s been a fun ride, with a few ups and downs and funny little unforeseen challenges. But, all in all, it feels like it’s absolutely flown by.
I did also manage to paint up this Bob Olley Ogryn for the Olden Demon challenge in May, as well. The sculpt is just absolutely brilliant, full of character and attitude. I decided that he needed an appropriate beverage for the sweltering jungles of Catachan, and seeing as I’ve met plenty of Australian blokes who look like this (wrap-around sunnies and all) in my time, I had to paint him a few tinnies of Aussie-as VB.
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| Drongo the Ogryn |
This fella marks the start of my next big army project: an all-metal Catachan army for second-fourth edition. Watch this space!
Thanks for joining me on this journey so far. Some final full-army shots and a good write up is set to land next month.
Emperor protect you, citizen.
